Anza Borrego, CA

Our Route, Planning

Hanno, two friends and I decided to go to the desert to see
spring flowers. We drove from San Francisco via Hwy 5 (about
10 hours) and stayed in Borrego Springs. Our return trip was
via Hwy 395, by Owens Lake, Mono Lake and Hwy 80.

Highlights

The State Park HQ was the best place for bird photography, and it's
accessible early in the morning even though official opening time isn't
until 9 AM. I was there at 7 each morning. Birds are
somewhat used to people, and not as flighty as in other places.
It's also good for wildflowers and has a variety of good trails.

Costa's Hummingbird males were singing from perches and females were
sitting on nests. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher was nesting, as was
Greater Roadrunner. Black-throated Sparrows were striking against
brown backgrounds.

The desert flowers were in bloom, especially the Ocatillo, and Palm
Canyon Trail, near the park HQ, was especially beautiful. But an
invasive, the Saharan Mustard, has taken hold in many of the traditional
viewing areas, smothering out the expected color. Locals are very
concerned. Our return trip via Owens Lake was very interesting -
it is being partly refilled by the LA Power and Water Department to
combat dust pollution, and gulls and shorebirds have discovered it.
We saw lots of avocets on a short drive along Sulfate Road, reached from
the back side of the lake near Bishop.

References

Places to stay and eat

The Palms at Indian Head is convenient,
but expensive. The hotel restaurant is not very good, and service
was poor.Pablito's, on Palm Canyon Drive was good for dinner and
margaritas, and reasonably priced.Kendall's was perfect for breakfast, located in the Mall on Palm Canyon Drive, near the XL Gas Station

Wingbeats is an educatonal project of Bob Lewis, Berkeley, California.